Google Photos Vs Photos For Free On Google

For our money, navigating around Apple Photos is just a little more intuitive than its rival from Google, though your mileage may vary.

The problem is, both Apple and Google have great photo-storage services, and its hard to know which one is actually better.

Heres how Apple Photos and Google Photos stack up against each other.

Advertisement For the purposes of this guide, were including the optional iCloud Photo Library as part of Apple Photos to make it a fair fight.

While we cant cover every small detail and difference between these two services, you should get a good idea of how they compare.

Platforms and apps Advertisement Apple Photos comes baked into Apples own mobile and desktop operating systems, and its a little harder to access on other platforms.

You can use Photos on iOS, Photos on macOS, and iCloud on the web to get at your pictures very easily, but theres no Android app.

Theres a slick and comprehensive app available through any browser.

Mobile apps for Android and iOS let you upload and access pictures on mobile, and there are also desktop tools for Windows and macOS.

Google Photos can also integrate neatly with Google Drive, so you can use the Drive desktop clients instead.

GO Media may get a commission PS5 DualSense Controller Buy for 70 from Amazon If youre using Apple Photos, theres no Android support and limited support on Windows.

Googles service is definitively easier to use across multiple platforms and has a better web app, but if you use Apple products like the iPhone and Macbook, then youll probably be happier using iCloud.

Pricing and storage Advertisement Google Photos lets you back up an unlimited number of photos and videos, provided youre prepared to put up with a little bit of resizing (images must be a maximum of 16 megapixels and videos top out at 1080p).

If you want original, untouched uploads, then the app uses Google Drive.

Google Photos Vs Photos For Free On Google

Everyone gets 15GB for free on Google Drive, and upgrade prices start at 100GB for 1.99 a month.

Theres technically no free tier on Apple Photos, but you can choose not to use iCloud Photo Library at all and keep your pictures only on your devices.

We wouldnt recommend that because if something happens to your phone, youre screwed.

Pricing starts at 0.99 a month for 50GB.

Advertisement The iCloud and Google Drive pricing tiers are broadly comparable, with (for example) 1TB of cloud storage space costing you 9.99 a month.

That is the limit for Apple users, though, whereas Google Drive goes all the way up to 30TB (a cool 299.99 a month).

Googles unlimited, free, and easy to use storage system is perfect for most casual users and even pro photographers.

When it comes to pricing and storage, its an easy win for Google Photos.

Integrated editing options Advertisement If you want to do more than just store your photos, the fact that Apple has a native app for macOS gives it a slight edge for advanced editing options.

Google has some decent editing tools, but they cant quite match Photos for macOS.

On mobile, both Apple Photos and Google Photos offer some handy editing tools covering basic adjustments and filters (but remember Apple Photos is iOS-only).

The options in Google Photos are identical across the web and mobile, but for anything serious on either service youre going to have to fire up Photoshop or GIMP.

Advertisement Apple Photos has a more comprehensive set of editing tools available on mobile (if you stick to iOS) and desktop (if you stick to macOS).

Add to that the fact that Apples apps can be enhanced with third-party extensions and its an easy win for Apple in the photo editing category.

Advertisement Albums and sharing Advertisement Log into either Google Photos or Apple Photos and youll see your pictures organized by date, with the newest images showing up first.

Google Photos Vs Photos For Mac